Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #3

[CSIDreamer]

I don't think he is scared enough to use nuclear weapons, yet.

If he tries it, then nuclear war breaks out and Russia and Belarus will be the ONLY targets of the nuclear warheads of all of the nuclear European power, Canada and the US. Putin has a myriad of places he would have to drop nuclear warheads.

EVERYTHING associated with Russian power would be destroyed: Moscow, his billion dollar fortress, the Crimean pennisula, all major cities in Russia and any place he is known to hide out or frequent. All of the oil generating facilites, natural gas facilities would be decimated.

He would lose by winning because there would not be enough of Russia left to worship him and applaud his great wisdom.

That's a sad truth.

 

[Dontknow?]

Illia Ponomarenko
@IAPonomarenko
6m
Defense reporter with The Kyiv Independent. War, weapons, beer & heavy metal. A village guy from Donbas in a crusade for something better.

Burn, motherfuxxer, burn. Russian Pantsir S1 missile system destroyed in Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1498751669374533636?s=20&t=PH6vQP0msjPiS4jgAsB_vQ

 

[PrairieWind]

What scares me is that's all very logical thinking...none of what Putin has said or done in the past week has been logical. Look at the havoc he's wreaked for his country. I tend to believe the people who know and have known him in the past, the ones who have come out and said he's not acting his normal.

This my concern as well. Putin has always been very cold and calculating, but rational. But he seems unhinged now. He is destroying Russia.

 

[Tiff23fr]

2 hours ago
Eric Schmitt

Some Russian troops are surrendering or sabotaging vehicles rather than fight, a Pentagon official says.
Image

Pro-Russian troops in the separatist-controlled settlement of Mykolaivka, Ukraine, on Tuesday.Credit...Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Plagued by poor morale as well as fuel and food shortages, some Russian troops in Ukraine have surrendered en masse or sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid fighting, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

Some entire Russian units have laid down their arms without a fight after confronting surprisingly stiff Ukrainian defense, the official said. A significant number of the Russian troops are young conscripts who are poorly trained and ill-prepared for the all-out assault. And in some cases, Russian troops have deliberately punched holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid combat, the official said.

Live Updates: Explosions Shake Kyiv and Ukraine’s Second-Largest City

Quite the opposite of the morale, heart and perseverance of the Ukrainians willing to lay their lives on the line in the name of freedom for their future.

The Ukranians might be small in comparison to the Russian Army, but their purpose in this fight is clear. That is carrying them farther than anyone could have anticipated.

Their fight is admirable. Their principles are clear. They stand for something united which is inspiring IMO.

Thankfully, the Russian army is not fighting with the same clarity.

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
Ukraine gets Starlink internet terminals - and friendly warning about safety | CP24.com
''Feb 28 (Reuters) - Ukraine on Monday said it had received donated Starlink satellite internet terminals from SpaceX, but an internet security researcher warned these could become Russian targets.''

''The terminals look like home satellite television dishes and can provide relatively fast internet service, by residential standards, by connecting to a fleet of satellites in low orbit.

But John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab project, took to Twitter to warn the terminals could become Russian targets.

"Re: @elonmusk's starlink donation. Good to see. But remember: if #Putin controls the air above #Ukraine, users' uplink transmissions become beacons ... for airstrikes," he tweeted.

"#Russia has decades of experience hitting people by targeting their satellite communications," he added in a series of 15 tweets detailing the risks.''

 

[10ofRods]

This my concern as well. Putin has always been very cold and calculating, but rational. But he seems unhinged now. He is destroying Russia.

This is my concern as well. Putin is brilliant, savvy and, usually, tactical. But it's very hard to figure this one out. US State department says they have intelligence that the plan was a 3 phase invasion, with negotiations in between, so that Ukraine could surrender.

The idea he might have had was that "While we intend to take your eastern lands, Ukraine, we don't want to obliterate you, so here's your chance to save yourselves. We are, after all, cousins." So a kind of intra-family feud, in which the powerful branch of the family eventually squeezes the weaker branch into submission. It's happened many times in history.

But I do believe he is very isolated, may not even be watching anything about the invasion, and only speaks with a handful of elder generals (who have been lying to him because they fear him).

He looks puffy and his voice was weak at times in his short address to his minions. Apparently his hour long history lecture went better. One of his former aides says he spent the last two years carefully studying Russian history, every treaty, every bit of history involving Crimea (Russia claimed it for a very long time and Ukraine agreed to certain things regarding it when Ukraine was created, and in 2014, Putin himself declared that Ukraine wasn't doing what it said it would way back in 1945 or whatever).

So he's obsessed, out of touch, and, IMO, has some kind of craziness that comes with a certain type of person getting too much power. Is he also in the throes of Parkinson's? Dementia? Long COVID? No one knows.

 

[10ofRods]

It is so heart breaking to see innocent people die because some demented ruler wants more power -- it is horrifying- someone needs to take this SOB out-- I also worry about Putin having his finger on the nuclear button- people should worry and not just think he is bluffing---

He wants more power, but specifically, he wants that strip of land next to Crimea. Russia has been in possession of it in the past, it's been fought over many times and Putin believes it belongs to Russia. I don't think we have a parallel in North America, but the Black Sea region has been inhabited by human-like or human creatures for 2.2 million years. It's the oldest place outside of Africa that humans thoroughly inhabited and control (since 1.8 million years ago - and that wasn't even *advertiser censored* sapiens yet).

Putin has oil, the world wants to buy it (and apparently needs it), he wants to stop the problems he's had delivering overland through Ukraine (Ukraine has not abided by the deal set up when the pipeline was built). Apparently, all diplomatic attempts failed, but Putin didn't really want them to succeed (I think). He may have thought it would be a quick war, but why did he keep it secret from so many in his own country? Did he really fail to recognize there'd be tremendous sanctions?

He's got a ton of nasty weapons that he can use on Ukraine, before nukes. I don't think he'll nuke anyone, but this is a war that he's designed to get nastier and nastier, to bring Ukrainians to his own conclusions about Donbas, water supplies to Crimea, and the two separatist territories (which aren't too far from Kharkov/Kharkiv, where these two nations have clashed many times).

How far Putin will go, though, is a very serious question.

 

[PrairieWind]

This is my concern as well. Putin is brilliant, savvy and, usually, tactical. But it's very hard to figure this one out. US State department says they have intelligence that the plan was a 3 phase invasion, with negotiations in between, so that Ukraine could surrender.

The idea he might have had was that "While we intend to take your eastern lands, Ukraine, we don't want to obliterate you, so here's your chance to save yourselves. We are, after all, cousins." So a kind of intra-family feud, in which the powerful branch of the family eventually squeezes the weaker branch into submission. It's happened many times in history.

But I do believe he is very isolated, may not even be watching anything about the invasion, and only speaks with a handful of elder generals (who have been lying to him because they fear him).

He looks puffy and his voice was weak at times in his short address to his minions. Apparently his hour long history lecture went better. One of his former aides says he spent the last two years carefully studying Russian history, every treaty, every bit of history involving Crimea (Russia claimed it for a very long time and Ukraine agreed to certain things regarding it when Ukraine was created, and in 2014, Putin himself declared that Ukraine wasn't doing what it said it would way back in 1945 or whatever).

So he's obsessed, out of touch, and, IMO, has some kind of craziness that comes with a certain type of person getting too much power. Is he also in the throes of Parkinson's? Dementia? Long COVID? No one knows.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Putin doesn't look good. His face to me looks a bit puffy and pale and he has sort of a blank expression. He has holed himself up in the bunker facility in the Ural Mountains with his top commanders. I think he is very paranoid right now.

 

[dotr]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Putin doesn't look good. His face to me looks a bit puffy and pale and he has sort of a blank expression. He has holed himself up in the bunker facility in the Ural Mountains with his top commanders. I think he is very paranoid right now.

For a while now as others have noted, P looks puffy and unwell, my amateur speculation is that he has some sort of infection, such as his teeth judging by (what looks to me like) greyish streaks at both sides of his face.
Could be his liver or kidneys not detoxifying properly, OR he is seriously constipated (he is full of it!)
Complete speculation, imo. fwiw
Putin looks bloated and ashen at Kremlin amid global condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine | Daily Mail Online

 

[Herat]

Today's Flightaware is interesting.

The air traffic over Russia is significantly reduced. There are essentially only Russia- associated flights ongoing ( Aeroflot, Uzbeck airlines, etc.)

However, Turkish Air is still flying into and out of Moscow.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

I worked with a young Russian woman in Ireland 20 years ago and we became friends. Lately I can't stop thinking about her and certain things she said to me at the time. At that point Putin was a newish leader. We didn't know too much about him or what to expect from him, other than he seemed like a tough cookie for want of a better phrase. She said she had left Russia because of him and what she thought his leadership would bring. She said he was a throwback of a leader and Stalin-level bad. I remember her saying mark my words, this guy is no good and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He will cause dreadful, horrible suffering. He has no respect for human life. He is going to do appalling things. She vowed she would never return to Russia while he was still in power. I moved away not long after and lost touch with her but I've never forgotten it and her words are now haunting me.

 

[worldwatcher]

From Syria - with compassion

'Eleven years after the war and western sanctions, Assad is still in his palace in Damascus and Putin supports him and directs him from his palace in Moscow'

- Aziz al-Asmar, Syrian artist

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-russia-ukraine-war-how-civilians-feel-idlib


Syrian Street Art: Painter works to lift the spirits of his city

 

[Jenesaisquoi]

Poohtin would be better to let the Ukraine president and family live, imo. Z is currently a hero and if killed, will remain a hero. If he survives the war, as a human he is bound to fall out of favour/be involved in some kind of scandal.

 

[Herat]

One way or another Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is getting the Nobel Peace Prize, and the respect and support of all of the free world. In leagues and leagues.

And Putin gets nothing.

This will be another humiliation for Putin as the world champions the object of his wrath.

 

[margarita25]

 

[SouthAussie]

The plight of the fleeing Ukrainians ....


She had bought tickets for six different trains, but soon realised they counted for nothing. Instead, there was a boarding algorithm: first mothers with children, then women, then old people. Others were kept away by the police and soldiers standing guard.

Quickly, the train was crammed full. Families had to make split-second decisions, as mothers and children were allowed to board but grandparents told to wait behind.

........

But Yuri and his wife were far too low down the priority list, and far too polite, to have any chance of boarding the train. His wife tried to make the case that he had high blood pressure and had passed out the previous day, but he shushed her out of embarrassment, and nobody was listening anyway.

Yuri and his wife were left behind on the platform along with thousands of others, hoping they might be luckier next time. An elderly man with an amputated leg stumbled on crutches, as his wife tried to rouse his spirits to wait another few hours and try for a spot on the next train west. A young couple hugged each other in support, both of them crying. A woman leaned against a pillar, dejected, tears falling on the cat she was cradling in her arms.

‘It might be the last chance to get out’: citizens flee Kyiv as assault intensifies

 

[SouthAussie]

..... footage has emerged of unarmed people in Ukraine attempting to stop Russian vehicles with their bodies in a string of defiant acts.

In the south-eastern city of Melitopol, people pushed on Russian military vehicles with their bare hands, while in the north-east, Kupyansk residents jumped on a Jeep with Russian markers to fight the Russian occupation.

There were reports of fierce shelling in the northern city of Chernihiv, where people were filmed singing the Ukrainian national anthem and standing in front of tanks.

Russia-Ukraine war latest: Kyiv TV tower hit, killing five, as Moscow threatens ‘high-precision strikes’ – live

 

[SouthAussie]

Russian officials have threatened to block Wikipedia following the publication of an article about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The agency is accusing Wikipedia of “illegally disseminated information” about the Russian military, Ukrainian civilian casualties, and bank runs.

Russia-Ukraine war latest: Kyiv TV tower hit, killing five, as Moscow threatens ‘high-precision strikes’ – live

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Poohtin would be better to let the Ukraine president and family live, imo. Z is currently a hero and if killed, will remain a hero. If he survives the war, as a human he is bound to fall out of favour/be involved in some kind of scandal.

That’s what I’ve been worried about. I bet Putin is just pi$$ed that his own actions have helped turn Pres Z into a hero almost overnight. I’d never paid any attention to him (Z) or war coverage before, but his response to/with/for his people has been so impressive. I shouldn’t say it but I wish we had half that kind of leadership over here in the US. Ok enough about that….

Anyway, if Putin doesn’t manage to get Pres Z massacred, how can/will Pres Z ever be safe again? Putin has brought so much tumult to his own peoples’ lives & I’m amazed at the amount of Russian citizens who are speaking out against him. The optics are so bad for Putin & so very good for Pres Z. How could Z & family come thru this safely, which I pray he does.

I have to admit I do not usually follow world events but have just retired & actually have time to watch this horrible event. I’m finding it is so hard to keep a grip on it w all the videos & SM giving us almost up-to-the-minute updates. All those innocent faces whose lives have turned to chaos & full of fear. I keep praying for all involved.

ETA I luv the resolve of the Ukrainians….this morning I heard on the radio that they were tossing anything & everything (furniture, trash, pianos) into the streets to make it more difficult for the Russians to make their way thru the city.

 

[Tiff23fr]

Apple suspends all product sales in Russia
Apple suspends all product sales in Russia - CNN

The company said in a statement that it is "deeply concerned" about the Russian invasion and that in response, it has "paused all product sales" in the country. Apple also said it has moved to limit access to digital services, such as Apple Pay, inside Russia, and restricted the availability of Russian state media applications outside the country